Road Trip Snack/Meal Prep

Typically we go once a month or once every OTHER month at most, but with having had morning sickness, my business booming, Jay’s new position at work- life has been CRAZY!

We are SO long overdue for a nice getaway! I absolutely can not wait to get my feet in the sand and spend time with our family for Easter!

Back to the topic at hand- we are driving the 9 hours, as usual.

What is the most expensive part of any road trip you’ve been on?

For us, snacks and meals on the road usually equal the same as our fuel costs in my giant Armada, in fact, at times the exceed it!

Chic- fil- a or Panera for a family of four adds up! Especially with stocking up on drinks and snacks at every gas station/bathroom stop!

SO, my solution?

Plan ahead.

Drinks at the gas station are so marked up, as are snacks, and most of what you get is unhealthy. Who wants to get to the beach for vacation feeling bloated from fast food and junk for snacks? Not me!

Jay is a soda drinker- Pepsi and Sprite. But I can’t knock it, it’s his only vice. I ALWAYS usually hit Sam’s Club or Costco before a road trip to grab his drinks there along with bottled water for the kids and I- but this week at Kroger, they were on sale- $4.99 each if you bought two. So it works out nicely for Jay. 2, 24 packs for $10.

Now onto my meal and snack prep.

Homemade granola bars! Filling, not too messy and healthy. No artificial yuck or preservatives in these bad boys, and they are pretty fun to make. NO BAKE too! Boom.

You can also add in some dried fruit, salted pumpkin or sunflower seeds etc.

Kosher Salt and Cinnamon to taste

How To:

Mix all ingredients except the oats together

Fold in oats

Place on sheet pan lined with parchment

Press and refrigerate for about two hours

Cut into desired shapes and sizes and wrap with saran wrap

these will keep up to a week or so (if they last that long)

Next in my list is Fruit Salad!

That one is easy.

Fresh produce prices vary, so buy what is affordable! Aldi is a GREAT place to check out produce. Between there/Kroger/and Wholesale shops we spend SO little on fresh produce!

Keep in mind that fruit like apples and bananas will brown. I will mix everything up a day or two before our trip, with the exception of the fruit that browns. I add those the night before and add lemon juice (fresh) over it all to preserve it a bit and keep the fruit from turning brown on the road. Simply pop into reliable sandwich baggies or small Tupperware containers for easy to pass out snacks!

For this trip we have:

Apples

Strawberry

Raspberry

Blackberry

Blueberry

Green and Red Grapes

Cuties oranges (obviously peeled and taken apart)

Easy, Healthy and delicious!

For Linner (we usually hit the road around 2-3pm) on the road, I made up a grilled chicken salad- YUM!

Last night, Jay made some KILLER grilled chicken drumsticks over the charcoal grille and we had a TON leftover!

I’ll put these in personal sized Tupperware!

What You Need:

Chicken

Favorite Pasta (for this I used shells)

1 cucumber, chopped

4-5 tomatoes, diced

a few sweet peppers, chopped

1 head raw broccoli

Sometimes I add cubed cheese, but skipped this time

I also love adding raw spinach and raw corn but just didn’t have the time on this busy day- hey real life mom here!

1c of a GOOD extra virgin olive oil

1/2c Red wine vinegar

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (to taste)

Fresh sea salt and Fresh Black Pepper (to taste)

How To:

Boil pasta according to box, drain and rinse in COLD water, set aside

wash and prep veggies

Chop up chicken (I used about 6-7 larger drumsticks)

whisk oil, vinegar and spices until emulsified

Toss all together and a big bowl and BOOM

I use 2-3 Large Cooler Bags from Costco to keep all of our road trip drinks and snacks in. They are more flexible on where in the car they can fit vs using a cooler. We usually have one behind each front seat and one behind the front center console, so right in a row across the back at the kids feet (they are both still in carseats). One is for drinks, one is for cold food/snacks, the other is for dry snacks. These bags are my FAVORITE because once we are in FL we use them on the beach too!

Some of my other favorite snacks on the road:

String Cheese

Nuts- Peanuts, Pistachios, Almonds

Freshly Popped Pop Corn (we make this and put in large ziplocks

Pretzels

Seeds- Shelled, Roasted and Salted Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Hopefully, you all find a little bit of use from this list or at the very least feel a little inspired to take a couple hours to prep to have a painless and healthy trip!

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About Me

Hey, y'all!
I'm Brittney- a social butterfly, wild spirit turned wife and mom! Living just outside of Nashville, TN in the 'burbs with my husband and my three awesome little humans. I love food, wine and coffee and I'm always up for an adventure! I'll always keep it real with you guys because on this journey of motherhood we all need a friend who keeps it real, right? I'm so happy you're here!